Kidney Cancer Mortality Lower with Surgery

Elderly patients with localized kidney tumors have a lower risk of cancer-specific mortality (CSM) if they undergo nephrectomy rather than nonsurgical management (NSM), according to researchers.

In a study of 10,595 Medicare patients, Maxine Sun, PhD, of the University of Montreal Medical Center, and colleagues found that partial nephrectomy and radical nephrectomy were associated with a significant 55% and 42% decreased risk of CSM than NSM patients, the investigators reported online ahead of print in European Urology. Data did not demonstrate a similar benefit for patients aged 75 years and older.

“The harms of surgery need to be weighed against the marginal survival benefit for some patients,” the authors wrote.